Adam Gase sees a “little different swagger” in his players

Posted by Mike Florio on May 5, 2017, 6:31 PM EST

AP

The Dolphins made it to the playoffs in their first year under coach Adam Gase. As the second year approaches, Gase senses a change in his players.

“There’s a little different swagger about what our guys have right now in a positive way,” Gase told reporters on Friday. “There’s no indecision as far as what they’re supposed to do, how they’re supposed to do it, what they’re responsible for. I mean guys are really . . . kind of can get from point A to point B really quick and there’s no issues with any kind of gray in our building right now. Guys are really wired in on what we want to do. . . . There’s a different feel with what we’ve got going on right now with our day-in and day-out.”

He was asked whether this means they’ll be better this year.

“I think it does because you know what you’re supposed to do,” Gase said. “You know your responsibility. You know how things are supposed to be done around here. It allows you . . . I look at it as it’s going to allow us to play faster [and] make less mistakes. We had a lot of guys get so much experience last year that you never really thought would get experience. When you look at our depth chart right now, you start seeing a lot of guys played last year. That’s a good thing for us.”

Last year, the Dolphins made it to the wild-card round of the playoffs. Although they lost to the Steelers, Gase was encouraged by how the players reacted to the defeat.

“I think what hit me more than anything was after that last game, just seeing the emotion our guys had,” Gase said. “You could tell it meant something to them and they were all disappointed that we didn’t play as well as we thought we would and that it was over. So. really, it’s going to come down to how does that transfer over once we hit OTAs and then training camp and then the preseason, to see if we have that, ‘Oh, I’ve got it attitude,’ or if it’s a legitimately one day at a time, get better type of team. Right now, our main focus has been one day at a time again, and hopefully we stay that way.”

Given that they’re chasing the Patriots in the AFC East, they have a long way to go to do what only the 2008 Dolphins have done since 2003: Keep the Patriots from winning the division. If any other team of the bunch can do that, it’s the Dolphins.

The Dolphins are not going to the playoffs in 2017, the offensive line is still a mess and the linebacking is the worst in the NFL.
The schedule is a lot tougher this year, 7-9 at best, can’t play the NFC west every year.
Sad but true.

I think it took a few games for the players to see Gase is for real. Cutting players and benching Jay Ajay sent a huge message. I think this year they are going to come out of the gates hot. Especially with the schedule, they have.

So his players are walking around with a swagger because they played over half of their games against teams who ended up drafting in the top ten? Maybe they’re walking around with a swagger because they beat the Cleveland Browns (in overtime).

The Pats have had the benefit of playing in the worst division in football for 15 years. Dolphins, suck, Jets, really suck, and the Bills suck worst of all. Its like handing them 6 wins every season year after year. They then get the crowd, bye and cold weather home games they are used to playing in . I’m not saying the Pats aren’t good but that weak division is the biggest reason for their success.

The Pats have had the benefit of playing in the worst division in football for 15 years. Dolphins, suck, Jets, really suck, and the Bills suck worst of all. Its like handing them 6 wins every season year after year. They then get the crowd, bye and cold weather home games they are used to playing in . I’m not saying the Pats aren’t good but that weak division is the biggest reason for their success.
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Bet you got a room full of participation trophies.

officialgame says:
May 5, 2017 8:28 PM
The Pats have had the benefit of playing in the worst division in football for 15 years. Dolphins, suck, Jets, really suck, and the Bills suck worst of all. Its like handing them 6 wins every season year after year. They then get the crowd, bye and cold weather home games they are used to playing in . I’m not saying the Pats aren’t good but that weak division is the biggest reason for their success.
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The division stuff is all the trolls have left, you shouldn’t go there with them. In 16 years Brady/Belichick are .786 vs the AFCE and .761 vs the rest of the league in the regular season, a whopping difference of a whole .025. That includes an .862% against the AFCN, .848 against the NFCN and .828 vs the NFCE. What northern or eastern division would you rather see them in? The last 4 years running the Pats have lost the same number of games in 6 to the division as they have in 10 to the rest of the league. Division winners on average for the past 10 years have lost 1.363 games per year in division, New England has lost 1.5. Not sure what metric it takes to make people look beyond what the talking heads say but I am sure the other teams in the AFCE would appreciate some help dealing with NE.

nhpats says:
May 5, 2017 7:03 PM
The Dolphins made the playoffs in 2016…..it was their SB….expect them to regress again this year….
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You seem worried. I would be too if I was a Deflatriots fan.

officialgame says:
May 5, 2017 8:28 PM
The Pats have had the benefit of playing in the worst division in football for 15 years. Dolphins, suck, Jets, really suck, and the Bills suck worst of all. Its like handing them 6 wins every season year after year. They then get the crowd, bye and cold weather home games they are used to playing in . I’m not saying the Pats aren’t good but that weak division is the biggest reason for their success.
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Since 2000 seven Super Bowl Champion teams have had to go through the Wild Card round, including the 2007 and 2011 Giants and the 2000 and 2012 Ravens who beat the Patriots on the way to their Lombardi Trophys.

The other 3 were the 2010 Packers, the 2006 Colts and the 2005 Steelers but again some of these teams didn’t even win their divisions and they still won it all. The Super Bowl is played on neutral grounds. Blaming regular season divisional games for the Pats success is really just ignoring the fact that the Rams, Ravens, Eagles, Seahawks and Falcons all choked against them, respectfully.

officialgame says:
May 5, 2017 8:28 PM
The Pats have had the benefit of playing in the worst division in football for 15 years. Dolphins, suck, Jets, really suck, and the Bills suck worst of all. Its like handing them 6 wins every season year after year. They then get the crowd, bye and cold weather home games they are used to playing in . I’m not saying the Pats aren’t good but that weak division is the biggest reason for their success.

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Completely and utterly wrong. At least go look at the records and playoff appearances.

Not to mention the fact that the Patriots have a similar winning percentage against the other AFC divisions and the either NFC.

Yes, that includes the AFC North, which the Patriots have completely dominated.

As a Finfan, that is music to my ears. Gase is considered an up and coming coach, #8 by one site after his first year, he has great pedigree and if our players are buying into what he is coaching/believes, its all good and up from here.
#FinsUp

Love what he is bringing to the team but at the end of the day its all talk and he says it himself. Every player, coach in the world in every team sport says the same thing during the close season. The sun is out, new players in, people feel fresh and excited, everybody is good. I get it.

Injuries. Avoid them, and make the playoffs again. One thing I noticed about the draft, no players with a history of injuries. As Gase said at some point, Devante Parker needs to make football a priority, not something he does for grins and giggles. I like that Gase is that aware of his players. Former coaches didn’t seem to be.

You have to excuse Adam Gase because he’s just finished his rookie year in New England South (Miami, stadium is always filled with 3/4s of Patriots fans). However, swagger has never been their problem it’s the actual playing that’s doomed the Dolphins. If swagger makes a champion they would have many more titles sine the early Shula years when they cheated to get those.

I think the biggest reason for NE’s success comes from not firing their coach every 2.5 years like happens in Miami, Buffalo and the Jets. In theory Belichick could/should have been fired after his first season 5-11. He was a proven failure at Cleveland. Kraft kept him and they landed a SB the next year. The rest is history. Since then Belichick has been meeting on average a new coach in the AFC East each season and probably wondering how long they will last. The owners, fans and media are all so quick to want it fixed that the teams are doomed if they haven’t got to the playoffs by year 3. I do not think the 2017 draft will help Miami against the Pats this year but it will help against the rest of the NFL. I though OL was the way to go and now hope I am wrong.

seahawkboymike says:
May 5, 2017 9:02 PM
nhpats says:
May 5, 2017 7:03 PM
The Dolphins made the playoffs in 2016…..it was their SB….expect them to regress again this year….
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You seem worried. I would be too if I was a Deflatriots fan.

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My only worry is that when the Pats win their 6th SB this year that they will have no room for the banner…

seahawkboymike says:
May 5, 2017 9:02 PM
nhpats says:
May 5, 2017 7:03 PM
The Dolphins made the playoffs in 2016…..it was their SB….expect them to regress again this year….
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You seem worried. I would be too if I was a Deflatriots fan.

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Patriots fans are, in fact, the least “worried” in the nation. It appears that you’re very confused for some reason.

We’re busy enjoying another Super Bowl win and looking forward to the stacked odds of the Patriots winning some more.

stillperfect says:
May 6, 2017 6:49 AM
And most years Miami has a higher strength of schedule than the Pats…..go figure.
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Bwahahahahahaha
You’re kidding with this right? What’s to figure? Of course the Dolphins, Bills and Jets have a tougher strength of schedule in most years than New England, the Patriots don’t have to play against themselves twice a season. How much do you suppose 2 games against an .875 opponent bumps the SOS of the other teams in the AFCE?

EXACTLY Maust ! You beat me to the punch. StillPerfect doesn’t understand how math works. Plus, c’mon dude, the Pats play a 1st place schedule EVERY yr, while the Fins play an easier 2nd, 3rd or 4th place schedule. Fins fans, please stop putting yourselves in the same sentence as the Pats. No one in the entire NFL is close to them, especially not you